


Exchanges of the heart

by thisishowidie



Series: ExchangeStudent!Elsa [1]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, ExchangeStudent!Elsa, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-13 00:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1205650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisishowidie/pseuds/thisishowidie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna Snowe is a usual drama major in Washington, when suddenly she is met with the task of looking after a new exchange student, Elsa Arendelle, the mysterious Norwegian exchange student. NOT INCEST</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Brilliant

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, Jo here. I promised, you wanted, and you shall receive. ExchangeStudent!Elsa AU. Few things before we start. I am always accepting prompts and asks about this fic, I want you to be as involved as possible. You can message (on tumblr) elsannaheadcanons, 50shadesofelsanna, or tag stuff with #ExchangeStudent!Elsa to get your ideas to me.
> 
> As usual, italics means thoughts, and bold for this fic, is whenever someone is speaking Norwegian, so you know.
> 
> Alright, on with the snow. I mean show, whoops.

_Brilliant_.

 _An exchange student_?

 _No, worse, a Norwegian exchange student_.

It wasn't exactly worse per say, but for this redhead, it wasn't what she needed right then. Right after the message was delivered, the girl collapsed back into her seat, huffing, almost snapping her pencil.

* * *

This girl is none other than drama major Anna Snowe, college freshman at Washington college. She was falling behind in her classes and she knew it. Her parents knew it, her friends knew it and her teachers were putting more pressure on her. She just forgot. She forgot to do work, or research, or anything really. She was a pretty care-free girl, wafting around the college like a feather on the gentle summer breeze. She was trying to get herself in check, of course. But all that was about to change.

Now she had to look after some Norwegian girl who didn't speak any English. All because she was the only one who could speak Norwegian.  _Why is she even coming here_? Not to mention they'd given Anna 1 days notice. This girl, Elsie or whatever (Anna wasn't really listening, she only paid attention when they said Anna's name), was already on the plane. And she'd have to take her under her wing. Her very busy school-filled wing.

She was not looking forward to tomorrow, that was for sure.

Anna didn't really have too many friends around college, surprising most of the teachers, who saw Anna as a social butterfly. She had her old buddy Belle from high school, but they took very different subjects, and they rarely saw each other now. Belle was an American Lit major, and a bloody good one too.

The rest of the lecture drifted by as Anna thought about various ways she could ditch this girl with someone else, but she just couldn't find herself to be that cruel. From the various words she had paid attention to, she had picked out "...Architect major...", "...shy...", "...different..." and "...needs a friend...".

There wasn't even an architect department at Anna's college. It was a preforming arts school. Although, Anna knew some of the students there were only there because their family forced them to go, as drama is meant to boost confidence levels. And they had mentioned the word shy.

Anna flitted back to her dorm shutting out all sounds around her, almost slamming the door shut after gliding in, not caring that her bitchy neighbour, Ursula, yelled at her for being loud, again. All she could think about was having to take this shy, skittish Norwegian under her wing for 6 months.

* * *

Anna fell into a restless sleep, tossing and turning as her mind yet again played Anna's own perception of her parents death over and over, slight details changing. They were driving to the next city to see her dad's sister, when news reached Anna of a tree coming down in a flash flood and crushing the car, and her parents. Now her mind plays the same images over and over.  
As the day of the exchange, although Anna realised they sent no-one to Norway, so this was some kind of stupid fake exchange, rolled around, Anna didn't want to do anything but sleep.

* * *

At 10:00 on the dot, Principal Oaken had called her out of her class to his office, where she had been forced to wait outside. _No doubt Miss I-can't-speak-any-English-so-I'm-coming-over-to-America-to-see-how-many-people-I-can-annoy was in there with him_.

Just as Anna's eyes were closing, the door creaked open, and Anna's eyes slowly followed. The breath in her throat hitched, and she scrambled to stand up.

In front of her was a girl with stunningly white hair, and skin so pale she could be a porcelain doll. She shoved her pen and pad to the seat she was just in and extended her hand to great the foreigner. She did not expect the girl to jump back, frightened. The girl was clearly much taller than Anna herself, with a meaner yet softer looking face, which was quickly morphed into shock and horror. And confusion in Anna's part. She quickly whipped her hand back, bowing her head slightly.

"I'm Anna." She puffed out proudly, just being glad to get words out in this tense situation.

" **Elsa. Pleased to meet you.** " The girl, Elsa, spoke. And boy, was it in the most beautiful accent Anna had ever heard.

"Elsa. Nice name."  _It really is. It's... brilliant..._


	2. Maybe

_Maybe._

_Just maybe, this could work._

_It's not likely to, but it could work, if she at least acknowledges that I'm here._

From that one sentence Elsa had said, she hadn't said another word, not even a murmur. When Anna had asked her where she wanted to go, Elsa has just shrugged and frowned slightly. As much as that was pissing Anna off, she couldn't help but let her lips twitch slightly at the sight of the woman.  _Can I call her a woman? She's 21, so... surely..._

So Anna had just carted Elsa around, letting the older girl follow her around like a lost puppy. Anna had stopped a few times to explain the layout of the campus to Elsa, and she couldn't help but smile as the platinum blonde looked in awe at some of the buildings.  _...Wow..._

Anna had deflected at least 20 students looks by this point, all curious as to who this new, stunningly beautiful, woman was, gracing their grounds with an all-encompassed awe of the structures. Elsa herself didn't even notice the looks other students gave her.

A few of Anna's friends graces them with their appearance, Belle and Ariel bounding over, followed by Rapunzel Anna's cousin.

"Anna! Who's the cutie?" Belle asked, daring a look at Elsa, who had quickly moved to stand directly behind Anna, effectively using Anna as a meat shield against the 3 girls.

"This is Elsa, she's a-" Anna felt herself move to the side before her senses could tell a hand had even been placed on her arm, pushing her.

"Hi, I'm Ariel!" The redhead shot out a hand towards the blonde, face twisting into confusion as Elsa stepped back so quickly that if you'd have blinked, you'd have missed it.

"Whoa, Ariel, careful." Belle chastised the girl, looking back at Elsa.

"You okay?" She asked, brows knotting in confusion.

"Guys, Elsa can't und-" Anna started, only to be interrupted again, this time by her won cousin.

"Elsa, huh? So, why are you following my cousin round like a puppy?" Rapunzel asked, folding her arms and glaring at Elsa, who frankly looked like she was about to melt, like a snowman in the summer. "Well?" Rapunzel questioned again, stepping closer to Elsa, who stepped back at the same rate.

"Guys!" Anna yelled, drawing the attention of the 3 girls crowded round the blonde. "This is Elsa. She is not from America. She is Norwegian. She does not understand.  **Sorry about this, Elsa**."

Elsa nodded back at Anna, stepping out of the crowd and a little closer to her protector, and Anna's heart fluttered a bit, a cold shiver running down her back.

"She doesn't like contact, either, so stop trying to touch her, Ariel." Anna glared at the aforementioned Redhead, raising an eyebrow. "And 'Punz, she's not following my around like a lost puppy. I mean, she's lost, but she's not a puppy. Obviously, she's a human. Not that she's not cute like a puppy, wait what?"

"Oh boy..." Belle whispered, turning round. "Areil, come on, let's get to the gym, you're gunna be late for swim meet." Belle took Ariel's arm and led her off quickly, leaving the flustered girl with her cousin to deal with.

"I hope Elsa understand enough English to know that if she hurts you,  _I'll kill her_." She glared at Elsa behind Anna's back, almost acting out the sentence. And with that final sweeping finger across her neck, she was gone.

_Holy shit. holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit. Elsa._

" **Are you okay**?" Anna asked, swinging her hands by her side slightly, looking down.

" **I'm fine. Thank yo** u." Elsa finally spoke, and Anna looked up at Elsa, a smile plastered on her face.

_Yeah. This could be okay. As long as no-one else got in the way, it could work._

_Maybe._


	3. How

_How?_

_How did she-?._

**"A dorm room. You'll be sharing with me**."  _Had she really never heard of sharing rooms_?

" **I've never shared a room**..." Elsa twisted her gloved hands around each other in an anxious gesture, frowning and looking at the floor.

 **"Well my roommate, Jasmine, just moved out. She graduated. Dance major. She's moving in with her boyfriend, or, fiancée Aladdin or something like that. Nice guy, weird habit of wearing nothing under his undone shirt. Aladdin was here too, also dance, that's how they met. And Aladin's burly friend, Gene, I think his name was. They always hung out together, now they've all moved out, and**..." Anna metaphorically clamped her hand on her mouth.  _Rambling_.

Anna quirked an eyebrow as Elsa looked around the small room, noticing how the blonde was scrutinizing everything under her gaze. Elsa frowned at the two beds, either side of the room, but still, they were't exactly closed away, where they? She'd spent her whole life closed away. Her dad keeping her from other people, in hopes she'd focus on taking over the family business when he went. He was infinitely angry when Elsa started studying architecture, and not business. Elsa hadn't even ever been to a school, nor had a friend. She was raised to be the heir. The heir to her fathers company, a company that she didn't want.

She had spent all of her spare time drawing buildings, great crystal structures, rising into the sky. The sketchbook she kept clutched to her chest was full of these types of drawings, but she'd never let anyone look at them. Not to say Anna didn't like to draw, but her drawings were more fashion. Beautiful cocktail dresses and tuxedos. Even some of Anna and a faceless man dancing under the full moon, in beautiful clothes, blowing in the breeze.

Whereas Elsa was her polar opposite. No drawings of people, no little love hearts in the corners of pages, no men. Just buildings. Icy spires glistening in the sun, sharp cut sides, laid out in sketches only her icy eyes had seen.

" **Elsa**?" Anna asked, stepping close to Elsa, hands weakly reaching out to touch the blonde's arm, wincing as Elsa pulled her arm away, turning away to the side, breathing out. " **I'm sorry**."

Elsa turned back to Anna, eyes soft, apologetic. Her stotic structure relaxing slightly in a way of saying sorry for pulling away from Anna's touch. She didn't speak, instead opting to pull her bag off her shoulder, placing it on the floor next to the sofa.

In fact, now Elsa looked at the sofa, and the living area, and not just the bed, she noticed how dirty the apartment was. Pizza packets there, empty Starbucks cups here, it looked like Anna had just given up on cleaning.

"Oh shit..." Anna gasped when Elsa's eyes looked upon the rest of the room. " **I can explain. See, I was going to tidy it, but then who really cares**?" Anna looked up at Elsa, who looked a little shocked at the redhead and her attitude.  _She looks so caring... she cares about me..._  
 _Don't be a fucking idiot, why would she care about you? She doesn't even know you, she flinches away from your touch, you idiot._

" **If it bothers you, I can clean it, I don't mind. I'll clean it all for you. I mean for me**... Good going fuckwit." Anna shook her head and flopped down onto the couch, legs over the side. " **Wanna watch TV? Maybe a film**?"  _Like a date. A film date. Except I'm not going to call it a date, because I'm a shallow fucking idiot and you're a goddess._

" **What film**?" Elsa asks, gently sitting down on the opposite side of the sofa, cautiously glancing over at Anna.

" **Anything you want**."  _Because I love you._

" **Can we watch Tangled**?" Anna beamed at Elsa, jumping off the couch to grab the DVD.  _Oh my god, ohmygodohmygod! She likes Disney!_

* * *

By the time the film finished, Anna had noticed that Elsa had relaxed a lot more, now leaning on the arm of the sofa. No closer to Anna, but at least she wasn't completely stotic anymore.

_Maybe one day she'll lay on the couch with me. We can spoon. Wait, what?_

"So, do you want to-  **Oh shit, I mean do you want to watch another film? Do anything**?" Anna asked, smiling at the blonde, noticing her slight tensing at Anna's words, knocking Elsa out of her train of thought.

 **"I'm going to sleep. The flight was long, and I'm tired**." Elsa pushed herself off the sofa, grabbing her bag and sketchbook, and stalking off to the bed by the wall, flopping down onto it.

If Anna tried to tell anyone she didn't watch stare at Elsa walk to her bed, they would have laughed at her. She didn't even try to reply, rather just collapsing on the sofa, sighing.

 _Whipped_.

* * *

Elsa didn't sleep. She couldn't. She thought about her home in Norway. She thought about her parents. She thought about her parents shipping her off to America to some drama school to boost confidence for a job she doesn't even want!

For 13 years, Elsa had been confined from everyone, never allowed to go outside the gates of the Arendelle family manor. What changed?  
Elsa had free reign for 8 years without her family imposing on her, allowing her to do whatever she wanted. She was free to play outside in the snow whenever she wanted, free to run around the halls, playing tricks on her nanny, stealing chocolate from the kitchen when the staff weren't looking, anything she wanted. Then one day her papa changed.

Harold Arendelle closed the gates. He let go fired 90% of the staff. He took Elsa out of school. He shut Elsa away from anyone.

Because she expressed her love of buildings.

She was 8.

And he took control of her entire life.

And now she was in America. Again, against her own will. But she was free to do whatever she wanted.

And she couldn't sleep.

For the first time in forever, Elsa felt free.

* * *

Anna crawled her way to her won bed, almost blind with how tired she was feeling. And it didn't help she had a gorgeous Norwegian blonde sleeping on the other side of the room. Anna pulled the covers over her just in time. As soon as her head hit the pillow, her eyes closed and she slipped into unconsciousness.

And for the first time in forever, she didn't have a nightmare.

For 3 years, Anna hadn't had one peaceful night, not since her parents death.

She wasn't with them when it happened. They were on their way to go see Rapunzel's parents, her dad's sister and husband, when a truck smashed into their small car. They were killed instantly. At least, that's what the police said. Anna had a hard time believing they didn't suffer.

Not that she wanted them to suffer, not at all, but she didn't believe any death was painless, let alone instant.

She was prone to fitful nightmares, kicking and screaming out most nights, but not tonight.

For the first time in forever, Anna felt free.

 _How_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is as far as I am on FF.net, hope you like it so far.
> 
> Love you guys!


End file.
